1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of antennas, and more specifically to a flat panel antenna whose field pattern is toroidal, whose polarization is along the antenna's long axis, and which provides omnidirectional transmission in any H-plane that is perpendicular to the antenna's long axis, and two transmission lobes in any E-plane that is parallel to and contains the antenna's long axis.
2. Description of the Related Art
The art has provided a number of small patch antennas that have been generally useful for their limited intended purposes. However, the need remains in the art for a small, thin, antenna that can be manufactured as a stand-alone antenna, or that can be integrated into a mobile or fixed position wireless communication device by using a portion of the device's printed circuit board, or the like, as the dielectric substrate of the antenna, and by providing a metal coating on one side of the substrate to function as an antenna radiating element, and to provide a metal coating the opposite side of, or on both sides of, the substrate to function as an antenna ground plane element.